Grey Ghost
by Sol Winterfang71
Summary: Being ignored is one of the most painful things to experience, in my opinion. All because of that damn fox, whose voice is stuck in my head while my twin sister got its chakra, I've decided to step out from my family's shadow and become what isn't there; a ghost. A dangerous one, at that. FemSasuke/Semi-confident!Hinata/Grey!Strong!Smart!Naruto Rated M
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Grey Ghost

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Chapter One

He couldn't help frowning slightly as he glanced at his twin sister, who sat a couple rows ahead of him in class. He had practically been all but forgotten by their parents and even his own sister. On the night of their birth, the official story was that the Kyuubi no Kitsune appeared and attacked Konoha. Although it had been the Yondaime, their father, to design the seals, the Sandaime Hokage had sacrificed himself to rip the Kyuubi's spirit from its chakra and store either piece into either child. His sister got all the chakra and all he was left with was a voice in the back of his head. In truth, a mysterious masked man had infiltrated Konoha while their mother, Kushina, was in the process of giving birth to them. Having been the Kyuubi jinchuuriki at the time, the seal on Kushina's body was weakened and the masked man took advantage of that by kidnapping the woman just minutes after she gave birth, only to rip the Kyuubi from the seal and unleash it upon Konoha. Luckily, their mother had survived the event.

_'I still don't understand why Mother and Father won't teach me anything special like they do with Asuka.'_ Eight year old Namikaze Naruto thought to himself, still frowning slightly. It then deepened as he watched Asuka chat animatedly with a few of her friends while he himself had none. Granted, that part was sort of his own fault, having become something akin to an introvert; not exactly shy or anything, but still quite reclusive. His sister was openly viewed as Konoha's Savior while he was just stuck in her shadow and the shadows of their parents, something that irked him. He didn't have any ill will towards his sister for that, since it was beyond either of their control, but what irritated him about her was the fact she simply soaked up all the attention and glory, never once trying to correct people and tell them that it was because of them _both_ that Konoha still stood.

_**"Oh, quit whining, boy. You might not be learning your mother's Taifuu Ken taijutsu style or fuinjutsu from your father, but you have things no one else has."**_ Kurama, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, stated from within Naruto's mind. Naruto's frown lessened for a moment at the comment. It was true. While he wasn't quite as much of a stamina freak as his sister or chakra power house like she was, Naruto had been born with strange mutations. One of which was the fact his body had three times the amount of tenketsu as normal and three times the number of 'chakra circulatory veins' in his body. Naturally, with a bit or training, Naruto had gained an almost masterful level of control over his chakra. His eyes had evolved into a parment form that gave him abilities similar to that of a fully matured Sharingan, except it didn't give him the ability to see chakra or copy techniques or cast genjutsu, but when coupled with his perfect memory and high level of intelligence, he had the potential to become just as dangerous as any Uchiha that had awoken the full power of the doujutsu. A downside to it was that it couldn't be deactivated, but luckily, it didn't rely on chakra since it was a permanent genetic mutation done to his eyes. _**"You should be grateful, brat. If I hadn't used the very last bit of chakra I had control of, you wouldn't have any of those things and you would be just another stupid human."**_

_'Be quiet. You were afraid and desperate. You didn't want a weak vessel since you no longer had your 'infinite' chakra to protect you.'_ Naruto retorted, turning his head slightly to gaze out the window for a moment and watch as a couple birds fluttered around a tree just outside. He then turned his gaze back towards the front of the class, choosing to simply read the instructor's lips instead of actually listening to the man. His comments had earned him a loud growl from the Kyuubi's sealed spirit, but Kurama didn't argue the fact; it was quite true. The fox had felt fear for the first time since he came into existence and he didn't like it, thus Kurama just barely managed to wrestle about a quarter of a tail's worth of chakra out of the Shinigami's grasp and take it with him, only to use it to enhance his vessel; Naruto. Without another word spoken between them, Naruto closed off the connection. Pulling out a hard-back booklet from a side pocket on his pants, Naruto tuned Umino Iruka back in before focusing the majority of his attention on the information contained within the book.

It was filled with his hand-written notes and hand-drawn diagrams of numerous seals. There were also little illustrations of concept drawings for different pieces of armor. It was all part of Naruto's project for something to give him a greater edge in combat as well as to bring him out of the shadow of his family, a place he loathed being. He was tired of being known simply as the 'Yondaime's Son' or the 'Son of the Red Death' or 'Brother of Konoha's Savior'. No, he would step out from their shadow and surpass them. He couldn't help smirking faintly as he peered down at the drawing of the full set of armor he had come up with.

xXx

"..." Iruka, having just arrived to class, couldn't help glancing up at his most promising, but unusual student to date; Namikaze Naruto. The boy was highly intelligent and became almost obsessively focused whenever he put his mind to something. He was naturally and highly talented in all three of the basic shinobi skills of Nin-, Gen-, and Taijutsu. He was the prime candidate for Rookie of the Year. He was quite possibly the only person in the village that could give his sister, the container of the Kyuubi's chakra, a run for her money in stamina. And yet...the boy never actively listened to any of his lectures and often went about doing his lessons in his own way.

Now sixteen and about 5'11" with a lean and athletic build that held a perfect balance between speed and strength coupled with incredible flexibility, Naruto had grown to be a rather handsome young man with spiky waist-length and incredibly pale platinum blonde hair that was almost white that he kept pulled back in a high pony-tail, dark blue eyes with three thin bright cyan blue circles evenly spread through his irises and a thin bright cyan blue ring connecting them together, three whisker-like marks on either cheek, and mildly tanned skin. He was clad in only a pair of baggy medium grey cargo pants that seemed a bit too long for him as the cuffs dragged on the ground a little bit while numerous pockets decorated the leggings, a plain black leather belt around his waist to hold them up while a black sash was wrapped around his waist over it with one end hanging down to his knees in the front, a black skin-tight long-sleeve turtleneck, a black cloth face mask pulled up over his nose to hide his 'whiskers' a medium grey vest over his turtleneck with white fur lining the collar, black fingerless gloves on his hands, white cloth wrappings around his feet, ankles, and calves that left only his toes and heels uncovered, and simple wooden geta on his feet. He was currently focused intently on a journal of somekind in front of him as he almost frantically scribbled things onto its pages. However, set over his ears was a set of solid black box-like cushioned headphones that had a wire running down the back of his vest that undoubtedly led to an interior pocket, the adjustable curved black band connecting the two speakers running along the back of his head. While it wasn't distracting or overly loud, one could hear the seemingly erratic tones and rythmic pounding of dubstep and its many versions echoing from the blonde's headphones so long as they listened close enough.

"Ahem. Aburame Shino?" Iruka began after clearing his throat, making sure everyone was in class before he got on with the day's lesson plan. As he did, Naruto continued to refine some of the seals for his armor, having been working on prototypes of each piece for the past eight years. He hoped to have the seals finished by the end of class so that he could begin applying them to his armor, which had been completed a week ago. Naruto knew he only had a year before the Genin Exam and he wanted to have experience using his armor and all of its capabilities before then. Reaching into his pocket and changing the song he was listening to, Naruto sighed quietly and rubbed the back of his neck before getting back to work...

"Namikaze Naruto?" The scarred chuunin called out, only getting a raise of Naruto's left hand in response before it went back down a couple moments later. Like he had for the past few years, Iruka wondered how Naruto could hear him over his music, never knowing that it was simply because Naruto had memorized Iruka's daily routines and had it timed perfectly to the point he didn't need to hear the man to know when to react.

xXx

"Geez...That damn barrier control seal is getting irritating. It's either too weak to sustain itself or too strong to remain stable..." Naruto muttered quietly under his breath as he walked home, still staring into his journal while his headphones hung around his neck, the music having been silenced earlier. Nearing the residence of his 'family', Naruto frowned slightly before snapping the book shut and slipping it into the dull brown leather satchel bag hanging at his left hip while the strap crossed his torso and hung off his right shoulder. The compound was small, holding only a three-story six-bedroom main house and a pair of two-story three-bedroom guest houses, with a simple thirty-foot privacy wall around the property that had been augmented with seals and permanent barriers to keep out any unwanted 'guests'. Walking up to the gate, Naruto placed his hand on the handle and channeled a bit of his chakra into it, letting the security seals recognize him as a part of the Namikaze family, before opening the gate and entering, letting the gate shut on its own as he pulled his mask down around his neck and walked over to the guest house on the left side of the main house. After turning fourteen, he had moved into it for 'more privacy and personal space', or so he told his parents and sister when they inquired about it. He had honestly just gotten fed up with being practically ignored all the time and figured it was better to be alone than to be ignored.

But even then, his self-induced isolation wasn't perfect...

"Naruto-kun? Can we talk for a minute, sochi?" Kushina inquired softly as she walked over to him, her facial expression a mix of concern and hope. She stood at about 5'7" with long crimson hair, deep emerald eyes, and fair skin. While she had become a stay-at-home mom since giving birth to both Naruto and Asuka, Kushina still maintained her old figure from when she was an active shinobi, often doing some light training in her spare time, although it wasn't much. She was currently dressed in a dark blue dress that ended half-way down her thighs with black skin-tight sleeves that ended at her wrists and black along the shoulders, black spandex leggings under her dress, and simple dark blue zouri sandals on her feet.

"..." Naruto stared at her with an almost emotionless visage, his unusual eyes unsettling Kushina a little bit and making her fidget slightly. Closing his eyes and sighing heavily, Naruto nodded before unlocking his front door and leading her inside. While he hated being in his family's shadows and hated being ignored by them, he wasn't going to stoop to their level and ignore them in return; besides, his mother was still his mother. Setting his bag down on the couch along with his headphones after depositing his geta at the front door, Naruto paused at the kitchen entrance for a moment and glanced back at his mother, who seemed a bit nervous and almost out-of-place with where she was; it wasn't often she or his father and sister got to see the inside of his home. "Would you like some tea, mother?"

"Yes, thank you." Kushina answered with a small smile, which turned a bit sad when Naruto disappeared into his kitchen. Glancing around, Kushina found the place scarcely decorated. The hardwood floors were a polished dark brown, the walls a soft biege with dark brown wood trim around doorways and along the walls half-way up. His living room furniture currently consisted of a rather comfortable looking black leather couch that could seat up to four people with plenty of space left over, a second black leather couch just across from it, a glass-top coffee table between them with a light brown wooden frame and stand that bore intricate designs carved into the wood, and a black leather love-seat set at one end of the coffee table. There were a couple bookcases filled with scrolls and books of all sorts set along one wall of the living room, but Kushina didn't spend the time to read what the labels were.

Set up on a shelf off to the side were a few family photos. There was one of herself and Minato when she had been pregnant with Naruto and Asuka, something that brought a smile to her lips. There was a more current photo of all four of them that had been taken when Naruto and Asuka had been six months old. Another picture of all of them showed them when Naruto and Asuka had been seven just after being enrolled into the Academy, but Kushina couldn't help noticing the odd look of resignment and disappointment on Naruto's face, something that made her frown. That same look remained on Naruto's face through each of the photos until he had turned fourteen, when he had 'moved out'; after that, his expression was simply blank and unreadable.

Kushina knew why it was, though. Unknowingly at first, she and Minato had all, but forgotten their very own son in lue of training Asuka to better control the Kyuubi's chakra. It wasn't until they had turned nine when she and Minato had realized what they had done and tried to make up for their mistake, but by then, Naruto had already taken to training himself and barely interacted with any of them outside of what was neccessary. While Kushina was active in her efforts to reconnect with her son, Minato simply acted as if nothing was wrong, but mostly because he didn't know how to fix the problem and figured Naruto simply didn't want anything to do with him now. Asuka didn't interact with him all the much any more, but that was mostly because she was a little intimidated by her own brother and honestly didn't know how to react to his seemingly emotionless behavior. She was soon brought out of her thoughts by a noise behind her, making Kushina jump slightly out of startlement while turning around to find Naruto setting down a tray with two cups and a pot of tea.

"What was it you wished to talk about, mother?" Naruto inquired as he sat down on one of the couches, purposefully making his tone a bit softer than the usual cold monotone it usually was. It wasn't out of deception, but because hiding his emotions from others had just become too much of a habit for him to openly show emotion. Not only that, but his mother had been the only one to actually put everything she could towards bonding with him once more. Sitting down across from him as Naruto poured them both a cup of hot green tea, Kushina became a little nervous and embarrassed; she hadn't really had a true reason to visit her son, but it didn't change anything.

"I just wanted to know how you've been doing recently. We haven't seen each other in almost a month now." The red haired woman responded while picking up her cup for a moment to take a sip. Naruto couldn't argue that point even if he wanted to, making him sigh slightly and give in.

"I've been alright, mom." Naruto answered, forcing himself to let his emotions show once more, if only for his mother's sake. A little surprised that he had called her 'mom' with a hint of warmth instead of the usual emotionally detached 'mother', Kushina couldn't keep her eyes from watering with tears of joy, but quickly suppressed them. It wouldn't do her any good to suddenly break down into tears just because of that. Luckily, Naruto hadn't taken notice of it as he sipped at his tea, his legs crossed under him. "I'm almost done creating my personal taijutsu style and I'm working on finishing one of my other projects. Hopefully, I'll have them both completed by the time the Genin Exams come around."

"Your own style? What kind of style?" Kushina inquired curiously, kind of surprised by the revelation. None of them had known he was even thinking about doing such a thing, let alone actually creating an entirely new taijutsu style.

"Like I said, I'm still working on it, but I plan on calling it Shiyoushitsuken; Vanishing Fist." Naruto answered before setting his tea down and frowning slightly. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a scroll with the kanji markings for the taijutsu style's name written upon it before passing it to his mother, seeing as she was the one better skilled and more knowledgable at taijutsu than Minato was. As she started reading through it, Naruto continued explaining. "Whether I finish the style or not, it'll still be incomplete until I finish my project since they tie in with each other. As you can tell from the notes, it relies more on dodging and countering than actually blocking. It also relies quite heavily on speed, flexibility, and strength in certain portions since almost every part of the body is incorporated into the style at some point."

"Um...Naruto-kun? Are you sure this is right? Your notes state that the key to your Shiyoushitsuken style is to avoid being seen at certain points, but there isn't any mention of how you would actually do it." Kushina questioned out of sheer confusion while moving to sit beside her son and showing what she meant. Naruto simply smirked faintly, but not one of arrogance; he knew his mother would catch on to that. "It's not like the Silent Homicide style Kiri's Seven Swordsmen are famous for using, which requires the Kirigakure technique to hide them from sight. How are you going to avoid being seen? And there are mentions of some kind of barrier technique used in conjunction with some of the defensive maneuvers; how would you manage that?"

"That's why I said it was still incomplete. The project that I'm working on along side the Vanishing Fist style is the second part of it, essentially filling in the gaps left behind by the first part and so long as everything turns out fine with it, it should theoretically hide me from even the Hyuuga clan's Byakugan. As for the barriers, how else would I do it? Fuinjutsu, of course. However, it's mostly a defense against ninjutsu attacks." Naruto responded, getting a shocked look from his mother, which only made him smirk again; internally, however, he was partly chastizing himself for not telling his mother everything since Shiyoushitsuken was only a part of an entire collaboration of shinobi skills rolled into one. The only thing that kept him from telling her everything were his instincts telling him not to reveal all of the cards hidden up his sleeves. "Trust me, this isn't something I just came up with over night. I've been working on this since a few months before my eighth birthday. I've put in a lot of time and effort into creating this, mom."

"Oh, I'm so proud of you, sochi! I can't wait to see it!" Kushina gushed in a rare emotional moment she was able to spend with her son, quickly wrapping her arms around him in a warm embrace after setting the scroll down on the coffee table. Although caught off guard by the sudden physical contact, Naruto couldn't help smiling faintly while almost hesitantly returning the hug. Her smile broadening as she felt her son return the embrace, Kushina couldn't stop her tears from flowing this time and only held her son all the tighter, something that threw up a red flag in Naruto's mind. Getting a little worried about her when she started shaking, Naruto tried to pull away to get a look at his mother's face, but she simply held onto him even tighter while burying her face against his neck, struggling and failing to stay silent as she started sobbing quietly. Resigning to his fate with a soft sigh, Naruto simply held his mother and rubbed her back soothingly, letting her cry as long as she wanted. It was the least he could do for her, considering everything he had put her and the rest of his family through for the past few years.

"Shh...It's okay. Let it out..." Naruto whispered into her ear, making Kushina sob a little louder as she tightly gripped the back of his vest. He honestly felt a bit guilty for hurting his mother so bad, but there was nothing he could do to change the past. "It's alright, mom...It's okay..."

"N-No, it's n-not, sochi! We neglected you when you were little! And look what's happened!" Kushina cried out without dislodging herself from her son, choking back another sob before sucking in a shuddering breath. "You sh-shouldn't have had to d-deal with that k-kind of pain, baby...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, sochi..."

"..." Naruto didn't know how to respond to that. Frowning slightly, Naruto simply let his eyes close and held his mother a little tighter, deciding it would be best if he comforted her without saying anything else. In only a few minutes, Kushina had gradually fallen silent and her breathing evened out, her grip on him lessening. Pulling back slightly, Naruto noticed that she had cried herself to sleep. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was almost nine o'clock. Not wanting to deal with his father or sister, Naruto gently maneuvered his mother so that he could pick her up bridal style while manipulating his chakra within his body, causing a Shadow Clone to pop into existence beside him, only for it to leave the room without a word to get the guest bedroom set up. Standing up with his mother in his arms, he carried her to said bedroom before laying her down in the bed just as the clone pulled the covers back, dispelling itself moments later now that its task was complete.

"Good night, mom." Naruto whispered while pulling the covers back over her before leaning over and gently kissing her forehead. "Sweet dreams."

As he left the room and closed the door behind him, he remained unaware of the small smile of true happiness forming on his mother's sleeping face as she curled up in the bed and clutched one of the pillows to her chest...

xXx

"Mmm..." Kushina moaned softly as she started to wake up, stretching slightly under the covers as her eyes slowly fluttered open. Although finding herself in an unfamiliar room, she knew about the gist of what had happened and how she got there. Sighing heavily as she sat up in bed, Kushina stared down at her lap. "I must have fallen asleep while crying last night. Minato-kun is probably worried sick about me..."

A sudden knocking at the door startled her, making Kushina jump slightly and bite back a slight yelp of fright...

"Breakfast is almost done." Naruto stated from the other side, something that made Kushina smile a little.

"Okay. I'll be there in a minute, sochi." Kushina responded a bit loudly so that he could hear her from the other side of the door. Heaving another sigh as he left, Kushina got out of bed before straightening it out and leaving the room, heading towards the dining room. There, she found Naruto sitting at the table already with two plates set out; one for him and one for her. She found it to be a simple meal of steamed rice and vegetables with some smoked fish. Kushina was a little intrigued by the fact her son showed some talent in cooking. Sitting down and muttering a soft 'Itadakimasu', Kushina started eating, idly noticing how Naruto was more focused on reading something in a hard-back booklet than eating his breakfast, even as he idly tapped his chop sticks on the edge of the plate, his headphones placed over his ears and his music playing. Deciding to make another attempt at conversation while she had a chance, Kushina voiced her curiousity despite the fact Naruto had his headphones on. "What are you reading over there, Naruto-kun?"

"They're notes on the barrier control seals I'm going to be implementing in the second half of the Vanishing Fist style." Naruto responded without looking up from his book before placing a piece of fish in his mouth. Snapping the booklet shut and putting it back in his pocket, Naruto pulled his headphones down to hang around his neck while his music continued to play, never noticing the slightly confused and intrigued look on his mother's face as she heard just what kind of music he liekd listening to; that thought made Kushina frown for a moment. There was just so much about her own son that she didn't know and it honestly hurt since it was mostly her's and Minato's fault. Swallowing another bite of fish, Naruto glanced up at his mother while adjusting the volume of his music so it wasn't so loud. "To clue you in as to how I'm going to do that, I'll let you know that all of the seals that I'll be using will be part of some armor I've already commissioned from the Higurashi family last year; it was just recently finished and I want to make sure the seals will work together properly as a single cohesive unit with no problems in the cooperation between seal arrays what-so-ever before I apply them to my armor. Hopefully, it'll be complete in the next couple months so I can get some actual practice in with the complete style."

"That's...amazing..." Kushina muttered with a look of fascination and shock present on her face, most of what he had said having escaped her due to the incredibly casual tone he had said it all in. It was as if talking about advanced fuinjutsu theory was as simple as talking about the weather to him. Not even Minato was like that; then again, the older blonde tended to act more like a kid in a candy store with a sugar rush whenever he started talking about his seals. Granted, Naruto hadn't used much fuinjutsu jargon, if any at all, in his response, but Kushina was still quite impressed with her son. No, she was beyond impressed. She was absolutely stunned. To think he had been working on it since he was eight and had done so all on his own. A thought then occured to her as Naruto looked back down at his plate while eating some of the rice and vegetables. "Wait, you said you had the commissioned by the Higurashi family? How were you able to afford that? It must have been incredibly expensive."

"It was. I was lucky to get a twenty-five percent discount due to my friendship with Higurashi Tensei's granddaughter, Tenten, whose a year older than me, an additional five percent discount since I train with her quite often and help her hone her skills with weapons while also keeping her company every once in awhile whenever we aren't training or busy, another ten percent discount since I know quite a bit about metallurgy and smithing, and I got it on loan; technically." Naruto answered while glancing up for a moment as he scratched under his chin with his left hand, recalling the entire ordeal with Tensei. Shrugging slightly, Naruto ate another bite of fish. "Tensei-san agreed to let me pay him in increments once I became a genin and started doing missions. In return, I not only had to sign a contract with him about shopping exclusively at his store until the full debt and any interest is repaid, but I had to work in his store for a little while whenever I wasn't in the Academy to cover for his daughter, who had to go out of the country in order to deal with some business problems in Sea Country."

"Wow. Sound's like you're pretty close friends with the Higurashi's, huh?" Kushina responded after swallowing a mouthful of rice and vegetables; she had to admit, Naruto was a pretty good cook. Not the greatest, but decent. Suddenly, a wicked thought popped in her head and although she thought it was evil, Kushina couldn't help mentally patting herself on the back while getting a mischievous smirk on her face just as Naruto started taking a drink of water. Resting her right elbow on the table and propping her cheek on her hand, Kushina gave her son a slight, but knowing smirk as she stared at him with a casual and calm expression. "So, you like older girls, huh?"

Naruto's eyes instantly widened slightly and nearly drowned himself with the water he was drinking, his right hand calmly setting his glass down while his left became a fist and struck his chest, trying his best not to choke or cough. Barely managing to swallow the mouthful of water, Naruto sucked in a breath and glared at his mother half-heartedly, his cheeks tinged pink with a faint blush. Kushina couldn't keep it in anymore and started laughing, only making Naruto's glare worsen as his shoulder's slumped and his cheeks burned hotter.

"You have a very cruel sense of humor, don't you?" Naruto grumbled while Kushina struggled to get her 'giggle fit' under control. That was when Naruto got a smirk of his own, having not had a 'worthy opponent' in a game of wits since he beat Shikamaru in shogi that one time and unintentionally sent the poor boy into a week-long state of depression. Kushina suddenly stopped giggling when Naruto spoke up again. "You know, I might be willing to listen to any advice you have. You have an interest of your own in women, don't you?"

"Wha-What?!" Kushina sputtered loudly with a raging blush, her eyes wide and mouth agape as she stared at her smirking son. She _had not_ expected him to turn it around on her. AND HOW DID HE FIND OUT?! Not even Minato knew about her..._interests_. "Wha-What m-makes you th-think that, N-N-Naruto-kun?"

"Oh, I don't know...Maybe the way you would stare at that young waitress at Ichiraku's? Or how you would always stare at that new female jounin's rear end? I believe her name was Yuuhi Kurenai, if I'm not mistaken." Naruto explained calmly, blatantly ignoring his mother's worsening blush as it spread down to her neck after already covering most of her face. He also ignored her disbelieving, if not a bit frightened, wide-eyed stare. "Oh, and then there's Mikoto-san. I distinctly recall the way you two would stare at each other whenever you think no one is looking. It was almost as if you two had-"

"Alright, alright! You got me, 'ttebane~!" Kushina yelled with a rather pitiful whine towards the end, only to suddenly bury her face in her arms while resting them on the table, too thoroughly embarrassed to listen to anymore. She missed the victorious smirk playing across Naruto's lips as he casually returned to his breakfast. Since it was the weekend, he didn't have to worry about going to the Academy, thus giving him plenty of time to tor..._bond_ with his mother. Slowly peeking up from behind her arms and through her crimson bangs, she stared up at her son with tears of embarrassment and humiliation at the corners of her eyes. She couldn't believe that her own son had managed to embarrass her enough to make her say _that_ again; the last time she had said that was just before she went into labor with Naruto and Asuka. "H-How...How d-did you f-find out about that?"

"Simple. I paid attention to everything around me." Naruto answered while setting his chop sticks down, having finished his meal. Seeing as his mother had as well prior to his decision to torment her, Naruto stood up and continued while taking the dishes to the kitchen to wash them. "With eyes like mine and heightened senses, there is very little, if anything, that can escape my notice within a thirty foot radius of me."

"..." Kushina stayed quiet, simply staring at her son from over the tops of her forearms and behind the thin veil of scarlet strands, secretly hiding the warm smile that had formed just moments after her sudden declaration of ''ttebane'. She was actually getting some quality time with her son for the first time in years and she couldn't be happier. Naruto was even having a good time, from the looks of it. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him smile, it had been so long. Her son's voice cut through her thoughts before she could think any more on the subject.

"Just so you know, I have to leave in a couple minutes." Naruto called out from the kitchen. "I'm supposed to meet up with a couple of my classmates in a little while."

"Oh? Who are they?" Kushina inquired, both thankful for the distraction from her embarrassing moment and curious as to who her son's apparent friends were.

"Uchiha Karasu and Hyuuga Hinata." Naruto answered casually while walking over to the couch and picking up his satchel bag. "We'll be gone most of the day, so don't worry about me so much, okay?"

"Alright, sochi. If you say so." Kushina sighed out as she got up and followed her son out of his home. After locking up, Naruto turned to leave, only to pause when Kushina spoke up again. "Oh, and Naruto-kun? I love you, sochi."

"...I love you, too, mom." Naruto responded a bit quietly without glancing back at her, smiling slightly as he left the property. Pulling his mask up over his nose, Naruto instantly took to the roof-tops and headed in the direction of the previously designated meeting place; a small cafe that Hinata often frequented along with Karasu on occassion. Taking no more than a couple minutes to reach the establishment, Naruto dropped to the street and glanced around for a moment before spotting his two friends sitting at one of the outdoor tables in the shade. It was only late morning, but the two young women were entitled to being comfortable. Like always, Hinata was enjoying a cinnamon roll and some hot green tea while Karasu, as she always did, snacked on a couple dango as they waited for him. "I'm not late, am I? I was...distracted."

"No, you're right on time as usual." Karasu remarked as Naruto took a set at the table while simultaneously examining his two friends.

Standing at 5'3", sixteen year old Hyuuga Hinata held a slender and lithe frame that was hidden beneath a pair of baggy and airy pants with slits in the sides at her hips, a black skin-tight backless and sleeve-less top that did little to hide her impressive D-cup bust and slim waist, black skin-tight arm warmers that went from her wrists up to the middle of her biceps, a lavender colored sash wrapped around her waist, a pair of black shinobi sandals on her feet, and a baggy lavender hoodie over her top with white sleeves and lavender cuffs. Her eyes were the usual pupil-less white as all Hyuuga, but her gaze was soft and kind-hearted. Her skin was a pale shade of cream and unblemished, the smooth curtain of waist-length obsidian hair contrasting heavily with her complexion.

As for Karasu, she held a bit of a...bolder style. Sixteen years old and standing at 5'6", Uchiha Karasu had a slightly more athletic build than Hinata with her waist-length black hair pulled back into a pony-tail that left her chin-length bangs free to frame her face. Her skin was almost identical to Hinata's, only it was a shade or two darker, and her eyes were a charcoal black, like all Uchiha. Like always, she was dressed in a biege midriff-bearing tank top that hugged her modest C-cup bust like a second skin, black tight fitting pants that looked as if they barely fit over her broad hips with the leggings tucked into her knee-high polished black lace-up steel-toe combat boots, a black long-sleeve knee-length trench coat with the sleeves rolled up past her elbows and the stylized fan of the Uchiha clan embroided in the back, black fingerless elbow-length gloves with silver metal caps on her knuckles, a pair of silver metal ANBU-style bracers strapped to her forearms over her gloves with an attached plate that covered the back of her hands, and a pair of black-sheathed guardless tactical tanto hanging from her belt beside either hip.

"So, same as usual today?" Karasu inquired before placing one of her dumplings between her teeth and slowly pulling the skewer out of it, her black eyes calmly sliding over to lock onto Naruto's. Mentally smirking with amusement towards her normal behavior, Naruto maintained a stoic expression on the outside. Instead of the usual affirmative to her question, Karasu was honestly surprised when Naruto shook his head in a negative response. This time, Naruto physically smirked when he saw Karasu's eyes widen slightly and her thin black eye brows rise; a favorite pass-time of theirs was to get a reaction out of one another of any sort whenever they were around each other. It was...entertaining.

"No, not today. I have a few practice pieces of my armor finished and I want to test out the seals before I apply them to the real set." Naruto began, blantantly reaching over without breaking eye contact with Karasu as he grabbed one of the skewers that had three dumplings on it, taking the time to eat one right in front of her after pulling his mask down momentarily. Narrowing her eyes slightly out of annoyance, Karasu restrained herself from mouthing off at her friend simply because she knew he did it only to get a rise out of her and because she would lose the arguement nonetheless. "Not only that, but you two will play key roles in testing them out today. Most of my Shiyoushitsuken style is a defensive style. Thus, Karasu, you will assist me in testing out the ninjutsu defenses while Hinata helps me test out the taijutsu defenses. However, I'll need both of you to help me with the genjutsu portion, seeing as my armor will be equipped with seal-based genjutsu to better hide me."

"Seal-based genjutsu? I heard those were quite difficult to make." Hinata commented with a slight tilt of her head out of confusion and curiousity. Naruto couldn't help thinking it made her look all the cuter than she normally was, but he absolutely refused to admit that out loud. As they continued to converse, Naruto couldn't help thinking about their little plan to ensure their places on the same team. Due to the revelation of Hinata's 'family issues', they had decided that Hinata would hold her place at the top of the class for the girls while Karasu had volunteered to take one for the team and let herself fall to the very bottom of the class as Naruto claimed Rookie of the Year. While he felt a bit guilty that Karasu would have to bite the bullet like that, he knew that it was for the good of their group. None of them exactly got along all that well with others, especially Karasu.

Back when they were only nine, a good-sized portion of the Uchiha clan had attempted a coup against the Yondaime. However, the Hokage and the ANBU couldn't act fast enough to put a stop to it, but Karasu and her older brother, Itachi, along with a handful of other Uchiha had stalled the attempt long enough for them to arrive. Unfortunately, Itachi had been forced to kill their own father. Even Karasu had to kill her own cousin, who she had been good friends with at the time. Due to such events, Itachi had awoken the Mangekyou Sharingan and Karasu's Sharingan had become fully matured. The main reason she, too, didn't awaken the Mangekyou was because she wasn't all that close with her cousin, but she still grieved over the kunoichi's death for a couple months; unlike Itachi, Karasu hadn't been so bothered by their father's death. Fugaku had put her down almost daily for not only being a girl, since he had wanted only sons, but also because she wasn't 'as good as Itachi'. It still hurt, but she eventually got over it.

In the end, however, Karasu became rather cold and disinterested in most things around her, focusing mostly on training until she and Naruto became friends, only for them to be joined by Hinata a little while afterwards. While the events that brought them all together were relatively ill-fated, Naruto wouldn't change anything. It was what molded them into what they were today and it was what brought them together. Smiling slightly behind his mask after eating the last dango he had stolen from Karasu, Naruto stood up.

"Ready to go?" He inquired, getting affirmative nods from the two clan heiresses. A couple minutes later, they were all racing across the rooftops to one of the private training grounds in the Uchiha clan compound...

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Sochi- Son

Shiyoushitsuken Ryu- Vanishing Fist Style

A/N: Just to let all of my readers know; Yes, I'm still writing my other stories (Beasts of War, Abomination, Escaping Hades, Dead Fox, Blood and Bullets). I'm just kind of hitting a bad writer's block for them. Hopefully, I'll have Ch. 12 for 'Beasts of War' up and Ch. 5 for 'Abomination' up in the next month. 'Dead Fox' is just being a bit more troublesome, as is 'Escaping Hades' and 'Blood and Bullets'.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Before we get on with the story, I feel that I have to clarify something. **No, this is NOT a Neglect/fic.** Yes, I understand that's how it seemed in the first chapter, but that is not what the story is focusing on. I'm taking my writing in a different direction with this fic by not just instantly jumping into something with a running start. I needed something to put some more emotional substance into my stories and that just so happened to come out of my head. Trust me when I say this; I am the first to admit that I am quite literally bat-shit insane and that there is always a method to my madness, no matter how random it may seem. Not only that, but I feel that I must remind all of you haters out there. **THIS IS FANFICTION! I CAN DO ANYTHING I WANT TO IN MY STORIES!** Got a problem with that? Then eat your own fist and stay quiet. Now that that is taken care of, on with the story...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Grey Ghost

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Chapter Two

"Let us hope our efforts weren't wasted." Naruto, now seventeen years old, whispered to his two friends as they sat on either side of him. Recalling the looks on everyone's faces when he entered the classroom in his set of completed armor, Naruto let a smirk form on his face, finding their reactions to be rather amusing. Even Karasu had smirked at their reactions. Most of the other graduates had stared in either awe, shock, confusion, fear, and even random combinations of the four. The most amusing, in Naruto's opinion, was when Kiba suddenly screamed like a little girl when he didn't realize that Naruto was standing directly behind him until he turned back around to find out what everyone was staring at...

Now standing at 6'1", Naruto was dressed in a pair of grey pants tucked into dark grey knee-high combat boots covered with dark grey metal armor plating that was sectionalized properly for maximum mobility and defense, a grey long-sleeve body-hugging turtleneck, a grey cloth face mask pulled up over his nose, a dark grey face-less helmet of metal wrapped around his head with a metal band running along his jaw in a semi-circle while a curved horn-like protrusion stuck out from the middle of the band and reached up along the middle of his masked face until it reached where his hair-line would be while a shaggy and spiky pony-tail of silvery platinum blonde hair trailed behind him from a small hole in the upper-back of the helmet, a set of dark grey metal armor covering his body that was made for maximum mobility and defense with a thick armored raised collar around his neck and shoulders with snow white fur covering the collar completely, a pair of dark grey pauldrons of metal attached to the shoulders of his body armor that reached almost half-way down his biceps without limiting his movements, dark grey metal gauntlets covering his forearms and hands, a belt of dark grey armor plates around his waist with an ankle-length half-cloak of dark grey cloth hanging from it that wrapped around the back from the front of one hip to the other while a length of snow white cloth hung down to his knees from the buckle in the front, and a Konoha hitai-ate hanging from his belt at his left hip from the end of a strip of light grey cloth.

In addition to his armor, he had a pair of black metal kunai holsters attached to the back of his armored belt behind either hip for a total of four, a guardless tanto mounted to the back of either shoulder in a grey metal sheath, a combat knife strapped to the side of either boot, three black weapon pouches attached to the back of his belt, three pouches attached to his armor on the left side of his chest, three scrolls holstered to the side of either thigh, an arsenal of various items hidden in the shroud of dark grey cloth hanging around his waist, a number of gadgets stashed in his gauntlets and armor, and more. However, most of such items went unused due to his unique skills...

"There's no way our plan failed. It was too well thought out." Karasu reassured from his right, only making Naruto smile a little at her confidence.

"Of mice and men, Karasu. Of mice and men..." Naruto mumbled out, confusing the Uchiha heiress, but Naruto simply shook his head before nodding towards the front of the class room as Iruka started listing the teams. From his left, Hinata had pulled her hair over her left shoulder and tossed her hood up over her head, nervously fussing with the cuffs of her jacket sleeves. She couldn't stop worrying that she wouldn't be placed on the same team as Naruto, who she had had a crush on since they were children. He was her inspiration to get stronger, to stand up for herself. Most people didn't see it at first glance, but Naruto was always confident in himself and had an unbreakable determination to do whatever he set his mind to. While her crush on him was originally just because of that, Hinata had gotten to know him better and now liked him for who he was, especially since he was one of the few that would actually encourage her to keep trying if she ever failed at something and she didn't know how she'd be able to keep growing stronger without him there helping her...

"...Team 6: Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Tsuki, and Namikaze Asuka under Mitarashi Anko. Team 7: Hyuuga Hinata, Namikaze Naruto, and Uchiha Karasu under Hatake Kakashi. Team 8: Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Kurama Yakumo under Yuuhi Kurenai. Team 9 is still in circulation. Team 10: Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino under Sarutobi Asuma. Team 11:..." The newly assigned Team 7 tuned Iruka out after hearing their names. Karasu couldn't stop herself from grinning slightly out of excitement while Hinata was blushing faintly and smiling happily. Although they couldn't see it, Naruto was relieved that his idea had worked out in the end.

"See? Nothing to worry about." Karasu remarked while giving a rare show of childishness when she stuck her tongue out at Hinata with a grin, making the shy and blushing Hyuuga giggle slightly while Naruto sighed and shook his head at Karasu's behavious, smiling slightly behind his helmet. "So, any idea who this Kakashi guy is?"

"He's my father's old student. I won't go into detail about him right now, but he's very skilled and considered one of Konoha's Elite Jounin." Naruto remarked, catching the attention of his two team mates. "Bad news is that he's incredibly lazy and is always reading Icha Icha. No only that, but he's always at least two hours late to any meeting except for some missions. Hopefully, my father will instill some fear into the man and get him to at least come to team meetings on time."

"_Lovely_..." Karasu groaned sarcastically while rolling her eyes. The group eventually fell silent once more while Iruka finished listing the teams, only to give a brief speech about being proper shinobi of Konoha before dismissing them for a lunch break. After a few minutes, the three of them were sitting at a nearby dango stand. As they waited for their orders, Naruto couldn't help wondering what possessed his father to create an all-female team as he took off his helmet and set it down on the counter in front of him. Of course, the logical and strategic part of his mind generated ideas such as a seduction/assassination/interrogation squad considering Anko was to be their sensei, but Naruto was not very welcoming of the idea. While he wasn't very close to her, he was still protective of his sister and if his father dared to place Asuka on a team such as that...

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata suddenly asked with worry, snapping Naruto from his thoughts. It was then that he noticed just what had made her so concerned; he had been gripping the edge of the counter so hard that he had crushed the wood in his hand. Luckily, the wood was mostly just cracked and there wasn't anyone around, apart from his team mates, to notice what had happened.

"Sorry. I was...just thinking." Naruto apologized, getting a look of worry from Hinata and a narrowing of the eyes from Karasu.

"Well, whatever it was that you were thinking about, I suggest you stop." Karasu stated as they recieved their orders and despite her choice of words, Naruto knew it was not a request. "The last thing we need is for you to be stressed out over something right now. We'll talk about it later, if you want, but until then, try to keep yourself together, okay?"

"..." Naruto stayed quiet this time and they ate their meals in a relatively comfortable silence. Two hours later, they found themselves back in the classroom, alone, and still waiting on their jounin sensei. To pass the time, Karasu had taken to cleaning under her fingernails with a kunai, Hinata was meditating, and Naruto was reading over some notes for another possible project that he had come up with a couple months ago. Luckily, the door finally started to open a few minutes later and upon the first of the man's gravity defying silver hairs coming into sight, Karasu flung her kunai directly at the man, who stopped just in time for the blade to bury itself in the door frame only a centimeter away from his face with it running directly in front of his eyes...or rather, his eye.

"My first impression of you three?" Kakashi drawled out lazily, his gaze resting on Naruto for only a moment longer than the rest as he glanced between his three potential students. "I hate you..."

"The feeling is mutual, Hatake-sensei." Naruto commented without looking up from his notes. Shrugging, Kakashi led them up to the Academy's roof where a handful of trees had been planted with a couple benches near them. On the way out of the room, Karasu had collected her thrown kunai and had returned to cleaning under her fingernails the moment they sat down at one of the benches under a tree with Hinata and Naruto sitting at either end while Karasu sat on top of the back-rest, the Uchiha looking rather disinterested, if not a bit irritated from having to wait so long. Hinata was a little upset herself, but was doing her best to be polite while Naruto simply ignored the man completely, choosing to read his notes instead.

"Oookay...Why don't we start things off with some introductions?" Kakashi suggested a little uncertaintly, having not expected his 'students' to be so passive-aggressive in their methods of disrespect, only getting a brief glance from Karasu before she went back to cleaning under her nails while Naruto simply didn't react at all.

"Well...What do you want to know, sensei?" Hinata inquired before casting a brief and half-hearted glare at her team mates for being disrespectful, which went ignored by both of them.

"How about...your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies...You know, stuff like that." Kakashi answered with a shrug, his lone eye half-lidded with boredom and laziness as usual. "I guess I can go first, if you want. My name is Hatake Kakashi and I have no real desire to tell you three my likes and dislikes. My dreams for the future...? Hmm...Oh, and I have many hobbies..."

"Hatake Kakashi, age thirty, jounin of Konoha. His likes include, but are not limited to, irritating another jounin by the name of Maito Gai, his stuffed animal 'Koinu', and sleeping in whenever possible. His dislikes include, but are not limited to, stupid people, loud people, people who do not follow the rules, people who abandon their comrades, and salty foods, though I can probably add myself to that list now. Dreams for the future are unknown. Hobbies include, but are not limited to, reading the Icha Icha novel series and reminiscing on the past to the point of being late to virtually every meeting he's been called for." Naruto spoke up without looking away from the scroll in his hands as Kakashi's lone eye started twitching slightly. Karasu smirked faintly at how easily her best friend had ruined their sensei's attempt at being 'aloof and mysterious' while Hinata could only sigh out of defeat and expasperation, knowing there was nothing she could do about Naruto's disrespectfulness towards their sensei. Glancing up from his scroll finally, Naruto eye smiled at Kakashi since he had left his helmet off since taking it off at the dango stand, said item currently resting on the ground beside the bench. "Am I right so far?"

"...You suck, Naruto..." The jounin grumbled while slouching. "Fine, you want to be a smart-ass? You're next."

"Alright. My name is Namikaze Naruto. My likes include music, cooking, and my friends. My dislikes include perverts, idiots, people who mistreat women, and a certain voice in my head." Naruto responded, getting odd looks from everyone around him since he never mentioned or hinted at ever hearing voices in his head. He ignored their unspoken concerns about the status of his sanity. "My dreams for the future...I refuse to share them at this time. As for my hobbies, I like making new dubstep songs, reading, and training."

"Alright, next." Kakashi spoke up after Naruto was done, mentally noting how Naruto avoided his dreams for the future and the mention of the voice in his head, one he knew could only belong to the Kyuubi's spirit; or so he hoped. This time, Karasu spoke up while still picking at non-existent dirt under her fingernails with the tip of a kunai.

"Uchiha Karasu. I like dango, training, anything sharp and pointy, and my friends. I have a strong dislike of traitors, perverts, morons, and sexist pigs. My dream for the future is to one day surpass my brother in all fields. As for my hobbies? Training." The young woman remarked off-handedly, never catching Naruto's smirk and eye-roll as he kept reading; he was probably the only one that knew Karasu was truly a big softy at heart and was also quite lazy at times. Kakashi wasn't exactly surprised by her response, but he was still a bit worried. There were simply far too many things she had in common with another trench coat wearing kunoichi of Konoha that had a love of pointy objects and dango...

"Ano...My name's Hyuuga Hinata. I like hanging out with my friends, training with them, and flowers. I don't like people that think they're better than everyone just because of what clan they are a part of or anything similar to it and I don't like spicy food." Hinata started introducing herself before Kakashi could address her, her voice soft and a bit timid, but it still held a hidden firmness in it at all times due to the courage she had whenever she was around her only two real friends, Naruto and Karasu. "My dreams for the future are to one day reunite the Main and Branch Houses of the Hyuuga clan and abolish the Caged Bird Seal for good. My hobbies include gardening and learning about medicinal herbs and their uses."

"Alright, you three. Tomorrow morning, we're going to begin our team duties, something with just the four of us." Kakashi began. The only success he had with his students, sans Hinata, was that Karasu had stopped cleaning under her nails with the kunai, but that was only because she no longer had anything to clean out from under them. Now, she just gave him a rather bland stare of mild boredom and disinterest. Mentally sighing, Kakashi continued. "It'll be survival training with me as your opponent, but it won't be like anything you did in the Academy. The truth of the matter is this; the genin exam you all took yesterday? That was only the first part of it, meaning you're not really genin yet."

"..." Naruto, along with Karasu and Hinata, simply stared at him, two with indifference and one with calm politeness. Naruto was the one to speak up for them. "And? Your point is?"

"My point is this;" Kakashi paused for a moment, mentally glaring at Naruto. That mental glare became a smirk when he continued, knowing the information he was about to give them would surely rattle their nerves. "Normally, the second test is performed by the jounin put in charge of the new genin teams and they determine who passes and who gets sent back to the Academy with an average failure rate of sixty-six percent. Going by those statistics, out of the thirty six students that graduated from your class this year, only twelve will pass the test and become full-fledged genin of Konohagakure no Sato."

"We already knew about that, Kakashi-sensei. We have for quite a while, thus how we ended up on the same team." Hinata spoke up from her spot before Naruto casually rolled his scroll up and slipped it back into the middle pouch behind his waist. Her statement mildly stunned the jounin, having not expected them to have information about it, but to also somehow manipulate the system to get them all on the same genin squad? Realizing that she had let it slip, Hinata blushed furiously and tried to hide in her jacket while Karasu shot her a mild glare. "Sorry..."

"Don't be. We would have been figured out eventually, so don't worry about it." Naruto reassured as he picked his helmet up and started sliding it on over his head, making sure his pony tail didn't get caught in the two inter-locking plates that covered most of the back of his head to make it easier for him to take his helmet on and off while also ensuring it stayed secure and remained in place while in combat, no matter how intense the conflict became. Leaving his hair to hang out of the small hole above the plates while a little armored covering sat over it to better protect the minor 'weak spot' in his helmet, Naruto pressed the plates together, causing them to lock together before sealing shut to appear seamless due to Naruto cycling his chakra through a simple seal that made it impossible for the locking plates to be loosened until he deactivated the seal. That was when Naruto faced Kakashi, the unusual ornamentation on the front of his face-less helmet intriguing the one-eyed jounin and making the man wonder what its purpose was. If there was one thing everyone knew about Naruto, it was the fact that everything had its purpose. If he had something that seeming as if it had no purpose being on him, it either had a purpose that no one else knew of or it was done deliberately to annoy people merely for the blonde's amusement.

"What do you mean by 'figured out', Naruto?" Kakashi inquired before Karasu spoke up.

"You really think I'm the dead last of our class?" Karasu spoke with a cold edge to her voice that was swiftly joined with the appearance of her fully matured Sharingan. To say Kakashi was surprised was an understatement. Seeing his look, Karasu had to fight back the urge to smirk before letting her eyes return to normal. "Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to hold back against everyone for the past few years?"

"Hey, at least you'll have the advantage of surprise against them if you play your cards right when it comes down to the Chuunin Exams." Naruto mentioned while glancing towards her. "Knowing Hatake-sensei, he'll be too prideful of us by the time they come around for him not to enter us and, calling his bluff, the jounin instructors of the other rookie genin teams from this year will undoubtedly nominate their own students."

"A little cocky, aren't you?" Kakashi remarked with a raised eye brow before narrowing his eye at the blonde. "Arrogance like that will get you killed."

"You think he's being arrogant?" Karasu commented before suddenly snickering, confusing Kakashi greatly. "If anything, he's being modest. I've seen what he can do, as has Hinata. Naruto is in a league all his own and we're partly to blame for that. Since we became friends, we've been training together since day one and Naruto has learned how to combat a great many types of enemies, but don't worry, Kakashi-sensei; you'll find out soon enough."

"...Are you finished yet, Karasu?" Naruto quietly growled out at her with a glare hidden behind his mask. In another rare show of childishness, Karasu stuck her tongue out once again with an almost impish smirk, only it was aimed at him this time. No longer in the mood to amuse himself by irritating Kakashi now that Karasu had put him in the spot light and probably blowing his chance of Kakashi underestimating him should they fight, Naruto turned to Kakashi and spoke once more in a more serious tone than before. "Where are we to meet you tomorrow for the test?"

"Training Ground 13. Be there at eight in the morning." Kakashi responded after a couple moments of silence, having not expected Naruto to get so serious all of a sudden. "Oh, and I suggest you don't eat breakfast; you'll only throw it back up. Ja ne."

As he disappeared in a cloud of smoke via Shunshin, Naruto turned and started walking away before Hinata and Karasu followed after him, only a few meters behind so that they could talk for a moment.

"Was that really neccessary, Karasu-chan? I know _I_ messed up, but it was on _accident_. _You_ did that on _purpose_." Hinata chastised with a slight glare, but it wasn't the hints of anger in her pale eyes that startled Karasu. It was the bits of disappointment. While she was, by-far, the gentlest person in all of Fire Country, Hinata's opinion mattered quite a lot to the Uchiha kunoichi and for her to be disappointed in her, Karasu couldn't help feeling guilty for what she did. Naruto had told them that it was best to keep a low-profile until it came to the second test, but Karasu had gone and blown it for Naruto in her efforts to defend him. Noticing her dear friend's look of guilt despite Karasu's attempts to hide it, Hinata felt a little guilty herself for being so 'cruel' to her friend. Thus, she softened her tone and gaze as they followed Naruto out of the Academy and out into the streets. "Look, just go apologize to him. You know Naruto-kun has never been able to stay mad at you whenever you upset him."

"Yeah, but this was different, Hinata. All those other times, we were just messing around and while it wasn't all that important, Naruto had trusted me to keep a low-profile and what did I do? I threw him right under the wagon without meaning to." Karasu muttered back in response, her gaze cast downward as she stuffed her hands in her pockets. Hinata sighed before looking Karasu in the eye for a moment as she stopped her.

"What did you _just_ say? You didn't mean to." Hinata told her before facing forward again, noticing that they had fallen behind a bit more than she thought. "Now, come on. Today's training session is only going to be all that much harder on us if we aren't on time."

"Hai." Karasu mumbled before following after her friend, deciding to apologize to Naruto in the morning...

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"Hm. Best be heading out." Naruto commented to himself as he glanced up at the clock, revealing he had a little more than half an hour to get to the training ground. After making sure his armor was properly secured and he had all of his equipment, Naruto, with his helmet placed over his head, left his home and locked the door, only to find another family member standing in front of him as he turned around. "Good morning, Asuka-nee-chan."

"Hi, Naruto-nii." Asuka greeted a bit uncertaintly. Naruto sighed quietly as he turned to face her fully, wondering what it was that made his sister want to see him all of a sudden, no matter how brief their encounter would be, since it was usually their mother that came to visit him every couple days, but he dismissed the thought and examined his sister.

Standing at about 5'4", Namikaze Asuka had long and smooth golden blonde hair that hung all the way down to just past her rear with her hitai-ate worn similarly to a hair band on a strip of black cloth with most of her hair pulled back to hang behind her while some of her bangs were left to fall freely beside her face. She held an athletic and lithe figure with mildly tanned skin, a large C-cup bust that was bordering on becoming full D-cups, bright blue-green eyes, and three whisker marks adorned either of her cheeks, not unlike Naruto's own birth marks. Like she had since their mother had taken to training Asuka in the Uzumaki clan techniques and styles, Asuka was clad in a baggy dark grey sleeve-less Gi with black along the shoulders and trim, a dark blue sash wrapped around her waist to keep her top closed with one end hanging down to just above her knees in the front while the other end was broader and hung down to just below her knees in the back, a pair of baggy dark biege capri pants with the cuffs sinched closed just past her knees, mesh sleeves on her elbows, black fingerless gloves on her hands, and black shinobi sandals on her feet.

Unlike Naruto, who was originally born right-handed and later became ambidextrous due to his personal training, Asuka was naturally left handed and kept her kunai pouch strapped to her left thigh. She also had a set of black coils tattooed around her forearms from her elbows to her wrists while a black spiral adorned either of her biceps near the shoulder joints; they were all some form of seal containing weapons Naruto had yet to see her use, but he had no doubt that she had been well trained by their mother in each of them. Their father was more into fuinjutsu and ninjutsu while their mother prefered taijutsu and kenjutsu...From what he could tell, Asuka was taking after their mother more while Naruto figured he was a bit of an odd mix of the two.

"I know you don't have much time and neither do I, but I just wanted to ask if you..." Asuka trailed off for a moment, her gaze sliding down before jumping back to Naruto's eyes as she recollected her slipping courage. "I was wondering if you'd like to train together later today after meeting with our teams?"

"I...do not know. I'll give you an answer later." Naruto responded before swiftly leaving the property. It only took him a few minutes to reach the training ground with twenty minutes to spare, but he wasn't the first one to arrive; Karasu was. Leaning back against the railing next to where Karasu was sitting on it, Naruto crossed his arms in front of him and greeted his team mate and friend. "Good morning, Karasu."

"Hey." She responded a bit quietly before they sat in silence for a couple minutes. Sighing heavily, Karasu figured she might as well get everything over with while she had the time. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I guess I got a little carried away..."

"A _little_ carried away, Uchiha-_hime_?" Naruto questioned, but teasingly. In response, Karasu's cheeks actually flushed a healthy pinkish-red while glaring at him.

"Shut up..." She hissed through clenched teeth out of embarrassment. _'One guy...One guy that was actually kind of nice calls me that and the blonde bastard won't stop teasing me about that...'_

"Hm, let me think about that one..." Naruto, in a rare moment far more endangered than an emotionally expressive Karasu, decided to see how many of Karasu's buttons he could push before she tried to kill him. "...I don't think I will...Uchiha-hime."

"Watch it, Naruto..." Karasu growled out. _'God, I swear I'm going to strangle him if he keeps it up any longer...'_

"Watch what? I need details if you want me to watch something for you, Uchiha-hime." Naruto kept teasing while looking around the area in mock-confusion, never noticing how Karasu's glare darkened. Suddenly snapping his fingers, Naruto spun around and faced her. "Or maybe it's not some_thing_ you want me to watch, but some_one_ and that someone is _you_, isn't it Uchiha-hime?"

"..." Karasu stayed silent, both out of shock at what he had just said and because her embarrassment had reached a level that made it impossible for her to speak as her face practically glowed crimson. Embarrassment quickly became anger, but when she raised her fist to lash out at his head, Karasu's eyes widened when the old wood of the railing let out a sharp crack moments before it gave out from under her, sending her tumbling back. Before she even had time to let out a cry of startlement or fear, Karasu felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her middle and suspend her descent. Opening her eyes and looking at the limbs and then at their owner, Karasu found herself staring at Naruto as he leaned back to grab onto her with his boots anchored to the side of the bridge with chakra. His legs were bent back at the knee and he hung upside-down with her in his arms and her back to his chest.

"Na...Naruto?" Karasu stuttered out slightly, her cheeks slowly growing darker again without the previously accompanying glare of anger. A slight tilt of his head indicated he was listening. "Can you get your hand off my breast?"

"Hm? Oh, s-sorry..." Naruto mumbled with a slight stutter as he noticed that his left hand had unknowingly landed on her right breast when he caught her, shifting his grip slightly so that his arms and hands were located around her waist _only_. Blushing heavily within the unseen haven of his helmet, Naruto closed his eyes and focused back on the task at hand before flipping off the bridge while tweaking his center of gravity to compensate for Karasu's weight, allowing him to land on his feet atop the deep water channel that fed from a nearby hot spring to a public bath house not too far away from the training ground entrance. Since Karasu hadn't been able to reach a point in her chakra control to properly walk on water like he or Hinata could, Naruto adjusted his hold on her so that she was cradled in his arms before walking back to shore, promptly setting her back on her feet and closing his eyes without openly flinching in preparation of the fist that would surely hit him in the next couple seconds.

"Th-Thanks..." Karasu stuttered out softly as her blush only grew hotter and darker in color from being carried like she had been, refusing to make 'eye contact' with her team mate as she crossed her arms over her chest out of partial embarrassment. Eyes snapping open out of surprise at her reaction, Naruto watched as Karasu, in a moment of self-consciousness caused by his accidental groping, closed her trench coat for the first time since she had come into possession of the article of clothing. As they went back up onto the bridge and stayed on opposite sides, Hinata, who had seen everything transpire, couldn't believe what had just happened and kept her back pressed against the tree she had hidden behind at first when she caught sight of Karasu's flushed face and angry glare prior to her falling.

_'I know Karasu-chan. She would have never let anyone touch her like that, accident or not, without retribution, so...why didn't she hit him or at least yell at him for it?'_ Hinata thought to herself, only to suddenly grow worried. _'She...She couldn't be developing feelings for Naruto-kun, could she? She...She couldn't...She _wouldn't_! At least, I hope she wouldn't. I confided in her...'_

It was a good four or five minutes after that before Hinata managed to both calm herself and gather the courage to continue on her way to the bridge, neither of her friends looking as if they had moved from their respective places on either side of the bridge. Having been trained in multiple sight-based skills and aspects, Hinata could tell that both Naruto and Karasu were nervous, confused, and also a hint of curiousity. Looking a bit deeper into their body language on an individual level, though, revealed to Hinata that Naruto felt a bit guilty and apologetic on an unusually high level for him while Karasu showed signs of being upset with Naruto over the incident, but also hinting at her possibly pondering the groping itself, if how her thumb lightly brushed against the under-side of her coat-covered breast was any sign.

"G-Good morning, Naruto-kun, Karasu-chan." Hinata greeted with a soft smile. Karasu visibly gave a slight start, having been too far consumed in her own thoughts to realize that Hinata had arrived. Naruto gave a slight twitch of his head tilting up from staring down at the ground in front of him before turning slightly to look at Hinata.

"Good morning, Hinata." Naruto mumbled out in greeting instead of speaking clearly with an 'apathetic calmness' to his usual tone. He knew his two friends would notice it, but there was nothing he could do to counter-act the mental and emotional conflict in his mind at the moment. He had also taken note of Hinata's slight stutter, something that they had all worked on to rid her off since they first became friends. The only reason she would stutter nowadays was always caused by strong emotional feelings of any kind; except for anger and its sub-forms, surprisingly. If she ever became upset by something that made her blood boil, she would stop stuttering and had actually raised her voice at one time, but he had not been close enough to hear the conversation between her and another Hyuuga, having arrived just towards the end to hear Hinata raise her voice. _'Why would she be upset, though? Did her father talk down to her again?'_

"H-Hi, Hinata." Karasu replied softly with a blush, avoiding eye contact with both Hinata as well as Naruto, still thoroughly embarrassed and confused by the ordeal with her male team mate. Everything was silent and somewhat tense after that. Hinata didn't know how to react at the moment without accidentally giving away the fact she had seen what had happened, Naruto was lost in thought and just stared down at the ground in front of him while trying not to bother Karasu any more than he already had, and Karasu simply didn't know what to think as she constantly kept sneaking brief glances at her blonde haired team mate. By the time Kakashi arrived two hours later, they had relaxed somewhat, but were still quiet; Karasu had at least opened up her trench coat again.

"Good morning, team!" Kakashi greeted cheerfully with an eye smile as he appeared via Shunshin, only to take note of the emotional atmosphere circulating around his three students. Shrugging it off with a mental note to look into the matter at a later time should they pass his test, Kakashi decided to get things set up for said test.

"Alright, the clocks set to go off at noon. Now, your task is to get one of these two bells from me before the timer goes off." Kakashi began to explain as he held up the two aforementioned bells. "Those who do not get a bell by then don't get lunch. Not only will you not get lunch, but I'll tie you to one of those three stumps over there and eat right in front of you."

"..." No response from his students. Not even the growling of empty stomachs. Gaining a flat look, Kakashi let his shoulders slump a little, realizing that his students had ignored his 'suggestion' and had breakfast anyways. He was still a bit proud that they did, marking them as at least having enough intelligence to think for themselves.

"You just have to get one bell. The one that doesn't get a bell will definitely be tied to a stump. As for the person that doesn't get one of the bells?" Kakashi paused for a moment, his expression and tone growing more serious as he continued once more. "That person will fail and be sent back to the Academy."

Once more, Kakashi didn't see any real reaction from his students. The only reactions of any worthy note was the slight tensing of Naruto's hands, a faint narrowing of the eyes from Karasu, and a determined look on Hinata's face. Mentally eye smiling at how well they could control their emotions on the outside, Kakashi decided to round off his little speech and get things started.

"For this, you'll be allowed to use anything at your disposal, including weapons. In my personal opinion, you won't succeed unless you come at me with the intent to kill." Kakashi stated calmly, noticing how Naruto's hands tensed a little more, but didn't curl into fists. Karasu's hands were now loosely crossed across her middle, almost as if in preparation to draw her weapons. Even Hinata seemed to tense her muscles a little as if to spring into action at a moment's notice. "Alright...Let's begin."

Without pause, all three genin disappeared from their positions, Kakashi's lone eye widening slightly in mild surprise, having not expected them to move so quick for such fresh rookies...

xXx

"See? I told you that you'd be shocked!" Kushina remarked a bit childishly, going so far as to stick her tongue out at her husband as she sat on the edge of his desk, both staring down into the crystal ball as it showed Naruto and his team taking their test. Minato didn't answer right away, his eyes still slightly wider than normal and his jaw a bit loose. While he had yet to see what his son could actually do, Minato was more surprised by the design of Naruto's armor. It was so bizarre and yet, it was also practical and unique, the combination giving the armor a bit of an intimidating feel to it. However, Kushina had said Naruto was using fuinjutsu with it and mentioned barrier seals; Minato could only imagine what his son's armor could do.

"Kushina, do you know what he can do?" Minato tried to ask as he glanced up at his wife, but he wasn't even spared a glance as Kushina tucked her bangs behind an ear and stared down at the crystal ball with giddy grin.

"Shh! It's about to get good. Just watch." Kushina urged, prompting Minato to sigh before complying, only for his eyes to widen slightly once more...

xXx

"Ninja fighting lesson number one; Taijutsu. I'll teach you about it." Kakashi remarked casually as he reached into his weapon pouch, only to retrieve his Icha Icha novel. Naruto couldn't stop himself from giving the jounin a flat look, blinking several times.

"Um...Hatake-sensei? I suggest you put the book away and focus." Naruto muttered, his eye brow twitching slightly at his sensei's arrogance. Before he could give the man a chance to reply, Naruto let his chakra leak into several key points on his armor before suddenly disappearing from his place. Kakashi's eye widened in surprise as he suddenly couldn't detect Naruto's presence anywhere near him, only to watch as Naruto faded and flickered into sight directly in front of him with his legs spread just a bit more than shoulder-width with his left side facing him for the most part. His open left hand was held at his hip with his palm facing up while his right hand was cocked back and held at his shoulder, a flame-like aura of chakra coating his hand and forearm. "Bourei Shou."

_'He's quick!'_ Kakashi thought to himself just as Naruto's hand shot forward and impacted his stomach, the chakra around his forearm suddenly shooting forward into Naruto's palm. Suddenly, in the tiny space between Naruto's palm and Kakashi's abdomen, the chakra exploded violently, launching Kakashi back several dozen meters to smash into a tree; or rather, the log Kakashi had left behind through the swift and timely use of a Kawarimi. Slowly standing up straight again, Naruto slowly looked over his left shoulder to see Kakashi stepping out from behind a tree, his Icha Icha suddenly absent from his hands. _'I guess I really will need to focus on the fight. He almost got me with that move.'_

"My, my...That was quite a technique. What was it called again? Bourei Shou?" Kakashi inquired, trying to see if he could get some insight into the blonde's strange taijutsu style. Slowly turning around to face the jounin, Naruto simply tilted his head slightly to the right, only to sprint forward, vanishing from sight the moment he started moving again. Cursing under his breath, Kakashi got into a guarded stance, only to be brought down to one knee when he was kicked behind it by his unseen assailant. Before he could take another hit, Kakashi quickly switched himself out with another log and just in time, too, as Naruto's right palm smashed into it from behind with another Bourei Shou. Gritting his teeth as he hid in the branches of a nearby tree, Kakashi was actually getting frustrated with the boy's disappearing acts. It was only a matter of pride that he wasn't uncovering his Sharingan to deal with the boy; no one would let him live it down if they found out he had to reveal it because of a fresh-out-of-the-Academy genin. _'So this is what Karasu meant about Naruto being 'in a league all his own', but there is always a weakness. I simply have to find it and exploit it...Right now, the problem is finding _him_, let alone finding a weakness.'_

_"You can't catch what you can't see, sensei..."_ Naruto's voice suddenly sounded off from all around in a dry, raspy whisper that made Kakashi shiver slightly as he was reminded of old ghost stories. A moment later, Kakashi's instincts screamed at him to block and he crossed his arms in front of him just in time to stop what felt like an armored shin, only for the power behind it and another low-yield chakra explosion to send him flying back, his body going through several weak branches before he managed to right himself and regain his footing.

"Katon: Goukakyuu!" A female voice suddenly called out from his right, making Kakashi's eye widen in shock before just barely managing to jump out of the way, only to find himself in the path of another. Coming at him from his left was Hinata, her Byakugan blazing and jacket missing as she lashed out with her right palm through the use of a basic Juuken strike. Cursing under his breath once again, Kakashi just barely jumped out of the way, knowing better than to try blocking such an attack. That's when he felt a third presence directly in front of him and could do little more than look down in time to find Naruto lying down with his hands on the branch on either side of his head while the back of his head, neck, and shoulders were resting on the branch under them, only to kick his legs up into the air as the jounin watched everything happen in slow motion. He showed an almost unnatural level of flexibility for a man as his back bent to the point the toes of his boots were touching the ground above his head with them pressed together, his feet being directly between him and Kakashi now.

"Jiyoushou Tamashii Tonkachi." Naruto quietly stated before kicking his legs back up and pushing himself up into a hand-stand. This time, Kakashi had been unable to avoid being hit, the heels of Naruto's armored boots impacting the jounin under his chin and tilting his head back while lifting him up off the branch slightly. Without pause, Naruto split his legs apart and spun in place, kicking Kakashi in the side and sending him flying, only for Karasu to appear directly in his path with a semi-vicious grin on her face, her eyes wide with excitement as her Sharingan blazed within them.

"Kazaguruma Keri!" Karasu exclaimed while flipping forward, only to bring the heel of her right foot down on Kakashi's chest, sending the already hurting and dazed jounin straight down where he impacted the solid earth. Landing back on her feet, Karasu couldn't help grinning with uncontrollable excitement as she dropped down to land a few meters away from her sensei while Naruto and Hinata joined her. Although he was pretty badly bruised and his ribs hurt, Kakashi wasn't all that hurt, but he simply laid where he was, staring up at the partly cloudy sky with his lone right eye, struggling to figure out how three rookie genin had managed to take him down; granted, he wasn't really trying, but still...

"You can keep those, Hatake-sensei. We aren't going anywhere without the other." Naruto spoke up as he lightly tossed the two bells on to Kakashi's chest, drawing the man's attention; they had already figured out that the key to the test was team work. Not like they needed to actually try, having been a 'team' for years already. "I snagged those in the very beginning, just to let you know, but I felt that you needed to be brought down a couple knotches. Hinata and Karasu just happened to feel the same way..."

"...You pass..." Kakashi grunted out quietly and although they all heard him clearly, Karasu felt like being a smart ass and leaned in a bit more while turning her head and cupping her ear.

"I'm sorry? We couldn't hear you." She remarked, making Kakashi glare at her weakly with his one eye from his spot on the ground.

"I said...'You pass'..." The jounin ground out with a bit more annoyance this time, something that only made Karasu grin more fiendishly while Hinata had a small smile of joy on her face. While Naruto's face couldn't be seen, Kakashi had a feeling the boy was grinning from ear to ear at him, enjoying the jounin's irritation at having to actually take on a team of genin along with being kicked around like a ball by those same genin.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Bourei Shou- Revenant Palm

Kawarimi- Substitution

Katon: Goukakyuu- Fire Release: Great Fireball

Juuken- Gentle Fist

Jiyousou Tamashii Tonkachi- Rising Soul Hammer

Kazaguruma Keri- Windmill Kick


End file.
